


lay me down

by melot



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-18 05:01:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11284227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melot/pseuds/melot
Summary: lance suffers





	lay me down

As Shiro watched Lance carry a completely limp body in his arms, he felt his breath catch in his chest and pain fill his soul when he realised the body was Keith. But even worse than his own heartbreak was the anguish in the blue paladin's eyes, as one could easily see that his heart hadn't just broken. No, the boy's heart had shattered. 

Pidge knew something had gone horribly wrong as soon as they returned to the castle with their lion. Lance was carrying a seemingly lifeless figure in his arms, Shiro wasn't doing anything but staring at Lance, and Allira and Coran were running out of the castle doors with horrified and confused expressions on their faces. As the green lion brought her paladin to the castle, Pidge realised the figure in Lance's arms was Keith, and he was, in fact, lifeless. 

"Hunk," Pidge's voice cracked over the helmet comms. 

"What's up, Pidge? I'm almost back, so if you're looking for a snack, I can make you one soon."

"Hunk, Keith didn't make it."

 

One Week Later

 

Even though it hurt, Lance did his best to remember everything he'd ever loved about the red paladin. He loved his dark, fearless eyes that always had a storm in them. He loved the ridiculous, silky-soft mullet Keith sported and managed to look absolutely gorgeous in. He loved the way Keith would bite his lower lip and hide behind his bangs when he was nervous. Lance missed the scowl, the smile, the laugh, the presence of his red paladin. He missed the way Keith treated Red with the utmost amount of love, care, and respect, the way he never quit, even in training sessions, the way he made Lance feel when he smiled in his direction, even if it wasn't him he was smiling at. Lance found himself weeping, unable to stop, for a part of him had died along with Keith. Oh, what Lance would give to trade places with the smaller paladin now. He felt at home with Keith, if home could be a person. The blue boy hurt worse than ever, but this time there was no mullet to help him through it. 

Shiro understood that Lance needed time to heal. They all did. Keith's sudden and violent death hit them all like a meteor to the heart, but he hadn't expected Lance to fall so hard. He barely ate, barely slept, barely talked to anybody. He'd stopped joking and flirting hopelessly with Allura. He'd given up on his skin routine completely. Lance wouldn't even allow Hunk, his best friend, to get close. He held everyone at arm's length. 

One day shortly after Keith's death, Shiro noticed Lance sitting at the red paladin's garden grave (which Lance had built, planted, and maintained soley by himself), peeling the petals off of a bright red rose and wiping tears from his eyes. The poor boy ended up falling asleep there as well, surrounded by everything Keith, and Shiro couldn't find the strength to make him move. Only one thing plagued the black paladin: when had Lance and Keith gotten so close?

 

Two Weeks Later

 

Pidge, along with everyone else in the castle, were all too aware of Lance's drastic shift in behaviour. The life in his spirit was gone, and his usually bright and glimmery eyes were dull, bleak, and empty, save for the agony that settled in them. 

"Lance?" Pidge asked one night, after a rough battle, when she caught him clutching Keith's blanket. Lance jumped at the sound of their voice, rapidly sitting up in Keith's bed. 

"Yeah?" He sounded exhausted. Then Pidge asked a question they already knew the answer to. 

"Are you sure you're okay?" 

With all the strength he could muster, Lance gave the green paladin a small smile and answered to the best of his abilities. 

"Yeah, Pidge, I'm fine," but with that, the blue paladin's heart betrayed him as tears began to fall- only a couple at first, but it only took a few seconds for the small smile to fade into the expression of one who is left so heartbroken that he himself breaks too. 

"I never told him, Pidge," Lance wept. 

"Told him what?"

"I never told him I loved him."

**Author's Note:**

> :)


End file.
